Duke Hartman Oral History, 2021

Duke Hartman has served as a leader, innovator, and philanthropist in the Denver dance community for over two decades. Raised in Baltimore, he received a B.A. in Communication Arts from the University of Dayton and a M.A. in Documentary Film from Ohio University. Beginning in 1977, he worked in Denver television with both ABC and NBC affiliates. In 1997, he cofounded High Noon Entertainment and retired as the Chief Operating Officer in April 2019. As COO Duke was responsible for strategic oversight of High Noon’s productions, operations, finance and technical areas. High Noon created 6,000 television episodes in 22 years. Hartman is also a partner in Denver based Great Divide Pictures and continues a 40-plus year career as an award winning single and multi-camera television director. Since 2007, Hartman has served on the Board of the Colorado Ballet where his background in film has served the company in advertising and technology. He spent three years as Chair and also leads the marketing committee in the company’s television advertising and in photoshoots. His background and skills made it possible to livestream Colorado Ballet student matinees across the US. He donated and installed lighting for the Colorado Ballet’s black box theatre. His financial support helped the company weather the recession and helped the company move to its new home where a studio is named in his honor. Hartman helped the company produce The Wizard of Oz in 2018 and in 2020 his leadership brought Colorado Ballet together with Rocky Mountain PBS to broadcast The Nutcracker, reaching over 200,000 people. Hartman has also been an avid supporter of Wonderbound, serves on the boards of other area arts organizations, and is a champion of dance in the Denver area.